by Jillian Neal
“Didn’t know there were men around like that anymore.” Griff sounded genuinely impressed.
“I didn’t know there were women like Natalie anywhere until I met her,” Aaron confided.
Griff and T both laughed.
“Dude, you are aware that you’re in love right?” T quizzed.
“You had a good ride but you’re done for, my friend.” Griff lifted his glass in a mock toast.
“Doesn’t matter if I am. She deserves better than anything I’ve got to give for the long term.”
Their laughter was erased from the air. They both stared up at him. The memories of all they’d lived through and the ones who hadn’t survived reflected in their eyes.
“Don’t say that,” T argued.
“It’s the truth. Why not say it?”
“Moving on,” Griff demanded.
“Fine but don’t fuck this up because you think you’re damaged goods or whatever. You’re not the only one in love. She’s all about you. I could tell every time she looked at you last night,” T vowed.
Hope was the most dangerous emotion humans were capable of experiencing. Offer a prisoner hope that one day you’d set him free, they’d last endlessly. The will to get something you wanted so badly you could taste it kept many men clinging to life itself. Aaron refused the hope that rode stupidly astride T’s vow. When the rubber met the road he had but two things Natalie needed: his strength and his sexual prowess.
When he’d taught her everything she wanted to know about passion and satisfaction and made certain whoever had hurt her no longer polluted the air by breathing, she’d find someone who could give her everything else she wanted in this life, everything she deserved. “Thought we were moving on.”
“Fine. I couldn’t find anything about them taking any land from anyone. I want to see the plot map from the original purchase, which if I’m extremely lucky will be somewhere in the records office.”
“Their family has owned that property for centuries.”
“I know, but you’d be surprised. If I can’t find the original I want the earliest possible one they have on record. From that I can figure out which land was theirs from the beginning. I can piece it together. Might lead me nowhere but you never know. Hey, do you remember Maddox Holder?”
“From the 101st?” Aaron hadn’t thought about Mad-dog in years. Guy was wild. Never turned down a dare. They’d had some fun together back in the day. Hell of a Screaming Eagle, too.
“Yeah. He’s back on his family’s land in Oklahoma. He helps us out on occasion. He’s looking into the land the Camdens have down there for me.”
“Thank him for me. Just how big is this organization you all have going on?”
“We call in favors all over the country when we need to. I didn’t put together a half-assed security firm, A.” T sounded offended. “I know what I’m doing and the moment you decide to make a real living on top of what you send your foster parents you’ll take my job offer.”
“Gotta say I’m impressed, but I still don’t want a job.” He sensed her presence before he lifted his head to watch her walk through the doors. The way she affected him was unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. If he was in love, it was sure as hell rattling his cage. “Nat just walked in.” He spoke through his clenched teeth.
“I’ve got you covered.” Griff lifted a denim jacket he must’ve stowed on the barstool beside him to keep anyone from sitting too close.
“Is that hers?”
“Yep.”
Aaron retraced their time at the Hi-Way. She had been carrying the jacket when they went in but he didn’t remember it appearing again until that moment. “You took that from her didn’t you? You lifted it when she went to the bathroom?”
“I kind of figured we might need to come out here to help you with your case and I know this town is all kinds of up in everybody else’s business. Made a good cover,” T explained. If it hadn’t been such a brilliant plan Aaron would’ve had more to say about their stealing from his girl.
“Hey, I didn’t know you two were coming out here.” Natalie’s broad grin snatched Aaron’s breath from his lungs. Okay, so this had to be love. He hadn’t even slept with her yet. How was he already falling for her? He knew the answer. He’d fallen for her the moment he’d laid eyes on her.
She’d been the hope. She’d been the very thing he’d wished for that had kept him going. A chance with her was what kept him from ending it all on the nights when he couldn’t rescue his present from his past. Now, he was just feeding the ceaseless cravings.
“You left this at the Hi-Way last night. A told us he’d let us drink for free if we brought it to you,” T thrust the jacket into her hands.
The neon lights of the bar twinkled in her gaze as she lifted her eyes to his. “That was so sweet of you but I’ll buy your drinks. You didn’t have to bring this all the way out here. I keep forgetting stuff for some reason lately. I think I’m losing my mind,” she fretted.
T and Griff both smirked. “You know A’s gonna take credit for making you forgetful. Don’t give him ammo, girl.” Griff winked at her.
She laughed. God, that laugh. His heart pounded out its approval. His cock leapt back to attention. He’d survived a lot of things in this fucked up life. He wasn’t certain he was going to survive her, however.
“Are we all going out?” she forced a smile but gave him a disappointed glance.
Fuck him, she didn’t want to go out with his friends. She just wanted him. Of all the things he’d screwed up, the brothers he’d gotten killed, for some unfathomable reason she only wanted him.
“No, baby, they’re heading back to Lincoln in a little while. Just the two of us tonight. I promise.” Her fake smile was immediately replaced with a genuine grin that reached her eyes and lit the tiny faded freckles across her cheeks.
Griff and T both hid their chuckles. Being discreet wasn’t one of her talents. Aaron hoped that proved true in bed as well.
“Is there some kind of memorial service for a man’s wild days when he gets himself tied down? If that’s not a thing it should be because we need to plan one for you.” Griff stuck the tip of his tongue between his teeth and laughed. Natalie turned the shade of sunburnt strawberries but Aaron caught the thrill that lit in her eyes.
“You know our man is kinky as fuck. Bet he’s the one who’ll be doing the tying down,” T goaded.
“I swear, T. Shut the fuck up,” Aaron huffed. “He’s joking,” he vowed to Natalie.
Relief swept a little of his fury away. Natalie didn’t look horrified or frightened. He studied her eyes, they were the windows to her every thought. A dozen years of studying human expression and mannerisms told him she looked intrigued.
T went as far as to hum the opening cords of “Here Comes the Bride.”
“Actually, we’re not going back to Lincoln tonight. We’re on a case,” Griff volunteered to Natalie. Aaron appreciated his attempt to distract her and he had enough experience running ops with Team Seven not to panic. He steadied his pulse and his breathing like he was about to scope in on a kill. How far would Griff extend the truth until he would be forced to run into lies?
“Really?” Natalie settled on the barstool beside him. “Surely not in the Glen. Nothing ever happens here.”
“Nah, not here,” Griff scoffed. “Down in Cottonwood Springs.”
“Oh.” Natalie nodded. Aaron wiped down the bar to have something to do. He wanted to see what she was going to ask next. She was curious. He could tell. “Can you tell me what kind of case it is?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Trying to find someone who doesn’t want to be found.” T looked her in the eye, judging her reaction. Dammit, if he blew this, Aaron would strangle him.
“That sounds like it could be dangerous.”
“Danger’s my middle name, sweetheart.”
Aaron and Griff both laughed at him outright. Natalie shook her head. “Pretty sure your middle name is Thursten which is dec
idedly not dangerous.” She went as far as to pat him on the head and Aaron doubled over.
“Oh God, I love her,” Griff howled. “You did good A. Hang on to this one.”
“For as long as she’ll let me,” Aaron assured no one but Natalie, who was staring at him with enough soul for the both of them penned in her hazel eyes. He’d left his back in the desert sands. Maybe he could just experience hers for a short while. He winked at her. As if on command her grin expanded the width of her face, and that warmth he was already addicted to licked at his spine.
“I have to go do refills. I’ll be right back.” Aaron grabbed the pitchers and made his way toward the patrons gathered at tables.
Natalie stared unabashedly at Aaron’s ass as he walked away. It was something she’d been doing since the first time she’d ever seen him. Now, she knew what he looked like mostly undressed but still hadn’t really gotten to admire the tight firmness she wanted to dig her fingers into and squeeze.
The night before had gone by in a blur. She hadn’t gotten to explore as much as she wanted and she had no idea how to ask him if he would lay very still and just let her touch him. She was fairly certain he’d let her if she asked. He’d probably give her the moon if she requested he climb up and hand it to her. Asking was only half of her fears. If he agreed, she’d have to follow through. That kept those thoughts locked up tightly in her head where they belonged.
She wondered just how kinky Aaron really was. If she wasn’t so inexperienced he probably would’ve done more with her already. In concept being tied up and at his mercy sounded sexy as hell. In reality, having some kind of panic attack while tied to his bed would be horrifically embarrassing.
Griff’s laughter brought her back to the bar before her. “We already know you like him, sweet thang. You don’t have to stare after him while he’s gone.”
“I do like him,” she admitted. “I like him a lot.”
“I can assure you the feeling is mutual. A has a bad habit of never thinking he deserves what he needs. Don’t let him pull that shit with you. He deserves good in this life even if he doesn’t think he does.”
“Why do you think he thinks that way?” Here was her chance. His friends had come all the way to the Glen to bring her a jacket she’d stupidly left behind. They must like her and they clearly loved Aaron like a brother. Maybe they could help her out with some knowledge as well.
T shook his head. “Only one thing you can say about life that’s always true: it ain’t fair.”
The cryptic response told her nothing and she was fairly certain T-Byrd knew that.
“Can I ask you something else?” She had to know how to help Aaron. He was doing so much for her. She wanted to give him something in return. Peace was the best gift anyone could ever give. Her parents had given her some semblance of it when they’d banished her uncle from the entire Midwest. She’d clung to it fiercely for the last two decades.
“Uh, okay.” Suddenly, T didn’t sound so certain.
“Aaron has some really bad markings, scars I think. There are long white lines and then…others.” She gestured to her own stomach. “They…well…they look like they’re…they look like they came from a…” When she was nine, she’d been playing with the BB gun she’d gotten for her Christmas that year. It was all she’d wanted. Her brothers had them and she hated being left out. She’d accidentally dropped it and it had gone off. The BB had lodged in Austin’s knee.
Eventually the scar had blended in with all of the others he’d earned getting himself thrown off of bulls. But she remembered how guilty she’d felt. She’d apologized to him every day for a year until he’d begged her to cut it out.
The puckered white marking resembled the ones on Aaron’s abdomen. Only Aaron’s were much, much worse.
She couldn’t force the words bullet wounds from her lips, however. She couldn’t bear to think about it. He couldn’t have been shot that many times and survived.
T and Griff shared an uncomfortable glance. Griff shook his head discreetly. T offered her a kind smile. “If you’re asking us, I’m betting you’ve already tried to ask him.”
“He probably refused to tell her,” Griff sighed.
“I can’t tell you what happened, Nat. I wish I could but it’s not my story to tell. Do me a favor, if he doesn’t want to talk about it don’t push him. He’s a fucking hero, braver than any man I’ve ever met. I can’t believe he did what he did. But he… he doesn’t remember it the way it went down. Maybe someday he’ll talk about it with you. But you’ll never hear it from me.”
Natalie nodded. “Okay. Sorry.”
“Hey, loving A is nothing to apologize for.”
Loving him? Natalie reached for the charm on her necklace. She shook it back and forth. Did she love him? If she did how was she supposed to know?
Aaron set the empty pitchers back under the spouts and grinned at her.
The rough scrape of T and Griff’s barstools against the old wooden floor marked their standing up. “We have to get. Lots to do before sundown. You two go get wild and crazy. Life’s short, right?” T winked at Natalie. Griff pulled a Texas Longhorns baseball cap low over his eyes and they both disappeared into the humid haze of the late afternoon.
“You okay, baby? You’re looking at me like they just cancelled your favorite television show,” Aaron asked as soon as they left.
“I’m fine.”
“Hey, Nat, all that shit T was saying about tie-ups and all that. It was a lifetime ago, okay? I don’t want you to be afraid of anything, baby. Certainly not me.”
“I’m not afraid,” she vowed. “Nervous maybe but not afraid. I’m not even opposed to being tied up.” She glanced around to make certain no one heard her. “Just might have to psych myself up for it first.”
“We’re taking this very, very slowly, remember? No one’s bringing tie-ups into this for a long time. I don’t want you to have to psych yourself up for anything.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
T-Byrd
“I say we just wait until sundown and come back with my lock pick set. This place barely has a front door and the windows are all unlocked. There can’t possibly be a security system.” Griff sized up the smallest courthouse T had ever seen.
“Let’s just go in and see what we’re up against. I want to get a feel of the clerk. Then we’ll come back tonight.”
“All right, fine, but if we go in now and then come back later and they eventually figure out someone was in there who do you think they’ll come looking for? I’m not doing anything that might get Triple A in trouble. We spent too much time in the bar with him and Natalie. People saw us.”
“Yeah, maybe. My gut says we should go in now and see if we can’t make friends with someone in there. Tonight feels a little iffy to me.”
“Do I need to remind you how fucking many times A’s bailed us out? He’s got a good thing going on in this town, if that’s what this is. I’m not fucking it up for him.”
“Oh, my lands, T-Byrd, is that really you?” The screech T had spent the last six months trying to erase from his memory clawed through the air.
“Shit.”
“Looks like you already have friends in town, T,” Griff huffed. He made no effort to hide his irritation. “Who the hell is she?”
A half-breath later, Cheryl something-or-another was upon them. “Did you change your number? I call, and call, and call and never get through. I mean I know you got moved to Anchorage but I figure we can just keep in touch until you move back.”
T forced a pained smile. Griff rolled his eyes.
“I won’t be moving back. Anchorage is a permanent assignment. I’m just here to see an old friend.” An idea sprang to T’s mind. This is why he always went with his gut. He came up with his best ideas when his balls were to the wall.
As he recalled the claw marks Cheryl had left up and down his back he remembered why he’d ever put up with that voice of hers.
“Who?” Cheryl pouted. “I thought
you didn’t know anyone out here except me.”
Bile swam in T’s gut. “Natalie Camden. We go way back. Do you know her?”
Griff eyed him cautiously. He shook his head but T knew he wished he’d come up with the idea himself.
When a woman like Cheryl thought they were in some kind of competition with another woman they always came out swinging. And in the dressing down she was sure to offer, there would be information they could use.
“Oh, well, yeah everyone knows Natalie. If you ask me she should spend more time at the beauty parlor than on that horse of hers. With money like the Camdens have surely she could do something about her looks. Besides she’s kind of a bitch. My mama had me invite her to a cosmetics and skin care party a few years ago. I told her she wasn’t all that ugly and that makeup would do a lot for her. She told me she’d rather gouge her own eyes out with a stick and that I could…well that’s not for polite company.
“Oh, and I heard she’s taken up with that no good bartender at Saddleback’s. If you ask me he has more tattoos than good sense. I mean, where did he even come from? My mama says he’s not to be trusted and I agree. Leave it to the Camdens to go around befriending all of the wrong kinds of people. Have you ever met Austin’s wife? Met her on the rodeo circuit, so he said. I went over there one time to ask Austin about something and you would’ve thought I set fire to their barn. She was all over me. Told me Austin was taken, like I didn’t know that. I was there to congratulate him on all of his rodeo winnings. Some people.”
Griff rubbed his temples. “Seriously, her?” he mouthed behind Cheryl’s back.
So she went after Austin Camden, one of the brothers, T recalled from his digging, after he’d won the PBR buckle and all of the money that went with that, and Austin’s wife had called her on it. T only knew what the Camden family looked like on paper, but from what he’d heard he’d say he liked them.
“Get rid of her,” Griff demanded silently. He glanced toward the street where they were drawing a small but interested crowd.
